Road guard for highways



April 3, 1934. R, J. WOODS, JR

ROAD GUARD FOR HIGHWAYS Filed May 26, 1933 Patented Apr. 3, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE 1,953,207 Roan GUARD Fon HIGHWAYS Robert J. Woods, In, Atlanta, GI. ApplicationMay 26, 1933, Serial no. 673,088

4 Claims. (01. 256-131) This invention relates to guard rails used along highways to prevent motor cars leaving the roadway and being precipitated over an embankment or into a ditch or ravine, extending alongside the 5 road, and providing a degree of protection to the occupants of the car in the event of collision between the car and a relatively rigid obstruction in the path of the car.

The object of the present invention is to provide a highway guard rail of the character mentioned embodying a material saving in the cost of construction and maintenance and in which the elements entering into the construction will afford the maximum degree of resilient resistance to the force of impact and also resume normal conditions upon exhaustion of the impact force. It has further for its object to provide an improved buffer spring or elastic member connecting the 'guard rails to their supporting posts which will absorb a greater degree of the impact arising from contact of a moving vehicle so that the posts to which said members are attached will be relieved to a material extent from the 'force of impact and thus the disastrous efiects otherwise existing prevented, and duration of its life prolonged.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the features hereinafter particularly described and then sought to be clearly defined by the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a post, looking at its front, with two guard rails supported from it;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the post and spring buffer and guard rails attached;

Figure 3, a top plan view of Figure 1;

Figure 4-, a detached view of the spring buffer, looking at its front;

Figure 5, a side view of the spring bufier;

Figure 6, a side view of the rail guard clamp;

Figure 7', a view of the clamp, looking-at its serrated face.

In general the road guard comprises posts A placed at desired distances apart alonga highway, or section thereof, to be guarded; and guard rails B extending from one post to another, and supportedfrom the posts A, at the desired distance from the roadway by attaching spring members C. The rails preferably are formed of strips or bands of resilient sheet metal, such as steel, of suitable weight and temper for the best results.

- The form or shape of said attaching spring restore the arms of the bow springs and the rails members C embodies, each, two oppositely disposed bowed members D, the extended ends of which project, one towards the other, (see Figures 2 and 3) and serve for attachment to their outer faces of the guard rails B, extending from one post to another, substantially parallel with each other, so that when impact is made against either rail, the portion or arm a of the spring next towards the post will be pressed towards the'post and also spread lengthwise of a line passing centrally through the spring bow memher while the outer portion or arm b of the member, to which the rail is attached, will be pressed towards the post and also spread in the direction or towards the other bow of the spring, substantially to the same extent as arm a but in the opposite direction, so that the action of the spring tends to maintain substantially a uniform spring is under tension and also while not under tension. This is an advantage as it tends to keep the rails practically in upright position, considered in cross section, and relieves the rails ofv torsional strains or stresses, and also tends to to normal positions when the impact is removed or relieved.

This construction also imparts greater resiliency to the springs which attach the rails to the posts. Furthermore, the extending arms of the two bows of the springs afford relatively broad or wide bearing surfaces for the flat guard rails, which may be attached to the extending portions of the springs by U shaped bolts ,or clips c, the ends of which pass through openings d formed in the inwardly turned ends of the spring arms and have nuts 6 screwed onto threaded ends of the clips so as to securely clamp the rails to the inwardly extending arms of the attaching springs. If desired, the meeting faces of the clips and the inturned arms of the springs may be formed with serrations as illustrated at i so as to more securely hold the two together and prevent one slipping on the other. The rail attaching springs will be disposed so that their longest axis will lie parallel with the axis of the posts and will be secured to the posts by a desired number of boltsg passed through the posts and provided with washers h and nuts i. The posts will be stayed or braced to the ground or base in which they are set by any acceptable type of braces or stays (not shown).

I have illustrated and described what is considered the best embodiment of the invention, and have also described with particularity the preferred details of the several elements of the device and their relative arrangement or assemblage, but the invention is not limited to specific details but includes such changes as may be made and come within the scope sought to be defined by the claims.

Having described the invention and set forth its merits, what I claim is: v

1. In a road-guard for highways including guard rails andposts supporting the rails; bow shaped springs connecting the rails to the posts, said springs being formed with oppositely disposed bow portions, the outer legs thereof being extended inwardly, one towards the other, with their ends spaced apart, to form resilient supports for rails in substantial parallelism with each other, said inwardly extending legs together with the bows of the buffer spring functioning to maintain substantial uniformity in spacing apart of the rails normally and also under compression strains.

2. A road-guard for highways, comprising rail supporting posts and rails disposed in substantial parallelism, buffer springs connecting the rails to the supports and formed with oppositely disposed bow portions, one side member of each bow extending towards the corresponding member of the opposite bow and the terminal of one spaced from the terminal of the other, to form independent resilient supports for rails attached to the respective supports, and means for clamping the rails to said supports.

3. A road-guard for highways, comprising rail supporting posts and rails disposed in substantial parallelism, bufier springs connecting the rails to the supports and formed each with oppositely disposed bow portions, one side member of each bow extending towards the corresponding member of the opposite bow and the terminal of one spaced from the terminal of the other, to form resilient members for attachment of guard rails, sheet'metal rails disposed for engagement with said resilient members, and clips spanning the rails and secured to said resilient members for clamping the rails in place.

4. A road-guard for highways, comprising rail supporting posts and rails disposed in substantial parallelism, bufier springs connecting the rails to the supports and formed each with oppositely disposed bow portions, a part of each bow portion forming an independent resilient support for rails, sheet metal rails disposed for engagement with said resilient supports, and clips for clamping the rails to said supports, the meeting faces of the clips and said resilient supports being serrated for preventing movement of one relatively to the other.

ROBERT J. WOODS, JR.

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